Politics
Erdogan offers revolvers to NATO leaders as part of defense
By SUZAN FRASER
ANKARA, Türkiye (AP) — Western leaders came to Türkiye to discuss safety in a more and more dangerous world. They each left with a revolver and six cartridges.
The Host’s Unconventional Gift this week’s NATO summitturkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoganwas intended to showcase his country’s growing defense industry.
But it left officials across the alliance perplexed. Some were forced to leave their gifts behind due to gun laws in their countries, while others donated theirs to museums.
“I was struck by the fact that my gift of maple syrup had no equal,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters, adding that the firearm was now in police possession. “I would like to reassure Canadians, they are keeping weapons away from me.”
The revolvers were engraved with the names of the leaders
“An unusual gift from President @RTErdogan to the NATO summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on X, posting a photograph of a display box containing the revolver and six cartridges.
It was not immediately clear what he did with the gift.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, thanked Erdogan for the gift, which will be decommissioned and donated to a military museum, her spokesperson said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters the gift bag contained a note waiving export controls. Yet he left his vehicle disabled because it would be illegal to import it into Britain.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever handed over his revolver to airport police upon arrival. Revolvers presented to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten have been deposited at their countries’ embassies in Ankara and will also be decommissioned, officials said.
“My first reaction was that this is something a little different from the box of waffles with syrup that we handed out at the NATO summit in The Hague,” Jetten said Friday. “I think the Turkish president wanted to emphasize what we saw at the NATO summit, which is that the Turkish defense industry is among the best in the world.”
Croatian President Zoran Milanović said he only discovered when he returned from the summit that Erdogan had given him a weapon. His office said it would likely be turned over to a police museum.
“I didn’t take it. I shoot with different weapons,” Milanovic said, referring to his political style.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Erdogan’s gifts.
During a visit to New Zealand last year, Kash Patel, Director of the FBI gifted the country’s police and spy agencies with inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed.
The gift was intended to showcase Turkey’s growing defense prowess.
Erdogan’s office had no comment on the gift. Turkish media identified the revolvers as Gumusay .357 Magnum, a vintage six-shot revolver produced by Turkish state arms manufacturer MKE.
According to some reports, the weapon was aimed at highlighting Turkish defense industrywhich, in recent decades, has evolved from a major importer to an increasingly self-sustaining producer of advanced military systems, including drones and warships. It is developing its own next-generation combat aircraft.
Gun culture is deeply rooted in Türkiye and this gift provoked almost no reaction in the country. Umut Vakfi, a foundation that campaigns for gun control, says incidents of gun violence have reached alarming levels, reporting more than 2,700 last year in the country of 86 million people.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said summit participants also received a more conventional gift: a copy of Erdogan’s biography, titled: “The Politics of Courage: Erdogan and the Rise of Turkey.”
Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Stefania Dazio in Berlin, Mike Corder in The Hague, Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.
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Sources 2/ https://www.courant.com/2026/07/10/nato-leaders-came-to-turkey-to-discuss-security-erdogan-gave-them-each-an-engraved-revolver/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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